Kern, Hammerstein and Harbach originally wrote “I Won’t Dance” for the 1934 London musical Three Sisters. However, Three Sisters flopped and was quickly forgotten.

The next year, Fields was hired to help with the music for a film version of the 1933 Kern-Harbach musical Roberta. The writing team decided to make use of “I Won’t Dance” for the film, making the song more playful and suggestive by having the narrator refuse to dance because, “I know that music leads the way to romance”.

The song became such a hit, largely due to the fact that it was performed by Fred Astaire, that it is now included in all stage revivals and recordings of Roberta.

Frank Sinatra recorded a version on his 1957 album, A Swingin’ Affair, arranged by Nelson Riddle.